Mum mortified over explicit camel balls packaging

A mum-of-four has got the ‘hump’ over bubblegum packaging she feels is “explicit”.

Angela Hamilton, 29, was left in shock when her nine-year-old daughter Ellie Slater returned home from the shop with a packet of Camel Balls gum.

Angela was mortified when Ellie, along with her 11-year-old brothers Ethan Slater and Keiron Barras, showed her the 5p bubblegum packet which features a drawing of a cartoon camel, pictured from behind and peeking over his shoulder, with his private parts on show.

It also features the words “liquid filled” and “extra sour”.

Angela, from Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, said: “Ellie came back with these Camel Balls sweets and she was laughing her head off at the packaging, but I don’t think she quite knew why she found it so funny.

“It’s not the name I’ve got a problem with, it’s the picture on the packet which is really vulgar. I’ve banned the kids from buying them again. I want to know what they’re thinking selling sweets like this to a young kid.”

Angela said she was concerned that the packaging could lead to her daughter asking questions.

She said: “The packaging is really offensive, it’s ridiculous. I trust them to go to the shop on their own, but I’m upset that they’ve been served with these sweets, and that they’re being targeted at children in the first place.

“She thought it was hilarious and I had to explain that it wasn’t and I shouldn’t have had to do that.

“The sweets are just really inappropriate and shouldn’t be being aimed at children. I was mortified when she handed them to me.”

Shop owners say it is one of many stores in the region that sells the sweets and that they’ve stocked them for years.

The shop says there have not been any complaints about the sweets in the past.

A spokesman said: “They’ve been out for a long time now, we’ve had them in for years. I was a bit shocked when I first saw the packet and we were all talking about it in the shop, but the kids love them and no one has ever complained.